The White House is rolling out first lady Michelle Obama on the campaign trail as Democrats try desperately to maintain control of the House and Senate.



Obama will headline nine fundraisers in six states in the coming weeks — including for some of the most vulnerable incumbents — with more likely to be added, the White House announced Tuesday.



{mosads}”From the beginning, she’s wanted to hit the campaign trail,” Obama chief of staff Susan Sher said. “It was just a matter of figuring out what would work with her schedule and what would be most useful.”

From Oct. 13 to Oct. 27, the first lady will attend fundraisers for Sens. Russ Feingold (Wis.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Patty Murray (Wash.) and Michael Benett (Colo.). She will also attend a fundraiser for Illinois Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias and raise money for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in Los Angeles and New York City.

Rounding out her tentative schedule, Obama will do an event with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Illinois congressional candidates Debbie Halvorson, Bill Foster and Dan Seals for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).



White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the first lady is a “popular ask” for congressional candidates.



”I think the first lady is an enormous asset of this administration,” Gibbs said.



Polls show she is more popular than the president, who has burned up the fundraising circuit throughout the summer.



”You know, she is, as you might guess, a popular ask on the campaign trail, and I think she will go out and make a forceful and positive case for what this administration has done over the course of the next several weeks,” Gibbs said.


“She’s campaigning to advocate, to rally voters behind specific candidates based on what we can do together to build a better future,” added Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. “She comes to this as a mom, and that’s the lens through which she sees the world, and that’s her test for every issue — what it means for her daughters and all of our kids.”